July 11 - 12

Well it certainly was a beautiful spot to anchor at Platja des Trenc (Catalan spelling this time - everything here is written in Spanish and the Catalan dialect, just as on the northeast mainland), but we didn't know that the bar on the beach became the big party place as the afternoon progressed. By the time the sun was setting at 9.15 it sounded like a happy kind of war dance or a mob at the soccer singing happy songs, and the music had a definite thump-thump-thump! It was funny at first but we were very worried about how late into the night they would continue. Thankfully the music stopped at about 10.30 and gradually everyone climbed into their little boats and headed off to ports nearby or into cars and drove to goodness knows where - and they say drink-driving here is a major offence, such that the police will take your car away immediately you are caught!

I marinated chicken legs and thighs in lemon juice, garlic, honey and soy and Greg barbecued them for our dinner, which we had with salad and a bottle of Mallorcan white, Blanc de Blanc. It's handy that the really good chardonnay vinegar (Forum brand), which I buy at home at the Simon Johnson food store for my usual salad dressing, is actually is made in Spain and a gourmet shop at the market here sells it. Fresh berries and ice cream is the easiest dessert to have on the boat so we finished our meal with that and then slept peacefully, with the boat rocking only slightly. The sea breeze dies down at night as the land cools so it was fine to stay at such an open anchorage.

A swim before breakfast was magnificent in such clear turquoise water and I figured that after such exercise we deserved a full English style breakfast - bacon, eggs, sausages and tomatoes after our freshly squeezed range juice. One of my regular purchases at the market is a few kilos of oranges (naranjes); they are grown in several areas of Mallorca and in towns like Soller on the west coast every yard is full of orange trees.

We spent the day reading, swimming and relaxing, far away from the hundreds on the long strip of beach, many of them hiring one of the rows of sun lounges so popular throughout Europe. In many parts of Europe they are on pebble beaches, but at least in Mallorca they have lovely sand.

We had a glorious sail home needing only the head sail up, with a 17 knot wind on the port quarter. Managing the boat by ourselves is easy but there is a lot to do before we go into the marina (tying on 10 fenders) and when we get back to the dock, stern to (setting up the stern lines to the dock and the forward fixed anchor, setting up the passerelle to walk across to the dock, connecting the power, putting covers on instruments) so we were well ready for a beer when we had finished. As it was already dark, dinner had to be easy and we really like the grilled bratwurst sausages in a small baguette that we can buy from the German Grillmeister shop across the road. Their fries are excellent too. Thank goodness for the air-conditioning when we are at the marina so we can easily sleep during the warm nights. At this time of the year every day is warm and the night temperature is still in the low twenties.

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